Stephanie Trinidad

Decades of Searching The Mothers and Grandmothes of The Plaza de Mayo Movement . 28

            Kitty Fane, a young wife of bacteriologist Walter Fane finds herself in a world where her former life as a debutante in upper-middle class England isn’t sufficient. In a land where the cholera epidemic runs rampant and children are orphaned by the disease. W Somerset Maugham’s The Painted Veil , follows her story, as a young wife who is caught in an affair with another man, betrayed by her lover, and is suddenly thrusted into a world filled with disease and death. What make’s Maugham’s novel interesting is that it isn’t about the affair but about the growth of the character who suddenly realizes that her life isn’t a closed world filled with parties and becoming the wife of a respectable man. Kitty’s growth within the novel is about how the world around her shapes who she becomes once she’s away from the life that she had known. The Church and the disease within the town made her realize that life wasn’t only ab...

            The role of women in novels is one that always changes as the world itself changes, histories are altered, women are liberated, and the past comes to light as a time that had once oppressed women. Chinua Achebe’s novels Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease both center on male characters and women are in the background pushing the story along and changing the lives of the male protagonist. As an answer to Achebe’s novels Chimamanda Adichie wrote the short story “The Headstrong Historian”, unlike the male protagonist of Achebe’s Africa Adichie’s story is centered on a female character from the same Ibo village from Things Fall Apart . All of the female characters in these three stories live in a patriarchal society that is created from traditions and religious influences. Though they influence the male characters and have strong personalities they’re still tied down to the male heirs, husbands, and sons.

When pop music hit the airways in the mid-twentieth it changed everything around the world. Music expressed the feelings of the masses, it gave a voice to the voiceless, and gave artist the power to influence the world. One way that music has become a major influence for the people of the United States and Britain was that it gave a voice to those who worked. Whether they were restaurant workers, office workers, women, or men music voiced their problems to the world and made it known that the hardships they faced were faced by everyone who didn’t live in the top tier of society. The theme of work for many musicians was a personal battle for others they saw how hard those around them worked to make a meager salary. How many would turn to a life of crime in order to feed their families. For women music and the workplace was a double edged sword at time because many of them still had to deal with gender roles that would place them under a man. If a woman was a musician there was in...

            If there is something that New York City is well known for it is the fact that people will gather there to celebrate or use it as a stop to a bigger journey. The central area of their journey is in midtown and the center of the city, Grand Central Station. It’s where business men go through on their way to work, and where immigrants stop to meet someone who will help them on their journey in their new world. What makes this place integral to the city is that no matter who a person is or where they’re from in this one building everyone is equal because they’re all on their way to their destination. Yet during the early years of the station the crowds and people who came and went were no different from those who live in the 21 st century, except that they would face a great many hardships that aren’t known in the modern world. What does looking back one hundred years tell a person in the 21 st Century about New Yo...

            A person’s feelings can be expressed through many different forms and in many different ways. The Renaissance artist and writers were no different in this aspect but there was a silent war going on between the two sides. One side of the argument comes from Leonardo da Vinci who believed that it was better to express the feelings and emotions of the time in art, using colors to capture people and nature. The other side of the argument came from William Shakespeare who used words to express the situations and feelings of the time and whether art and nature can be altered. Lastly there was also those like Michelangelo who both wrote poetry, painted, and sculpted the nature of life but also understood the true significance of life, nature, art and poetry. Was there one form that was superior to the other? Or did these men not understand the significance of all the forms of art whether drawn, sculpted or written and ho...

            The French Revolution is known as one of the greatest social movements of all time, as well as one of the most tragic. As France fought to change the order of the monarchy and change it into a possible democracy the world reacted in different ways. The United States which had just gained their independence from Great Britain saw the revolution as a direct strike against a monarch’s rule. For Great Britain the reactions to the revolution were mixed between those who were for the revolution and those who saw it as an attack on the sanctity of the rule of the monarchy. The escalating tensions between the people of France and the monarchy over a broken tax system and an economic crisis caused the Estates General to convene for the first time since 1614 to deal with the problems that were arising in France.   The artisans hungry from the lack of food wanted a way to fight for a chance at gaining ground against tho...

            When people think about Asian popular culture the term Hallyu Wave comes to mind for many people who live within East Asia. The origin of the term is highly debated as many scholars don’t know where or how the term came to be. The overall definition is that it is a wave of popular culture that has over taken East-Asia encompassing a variety of different forms of entertainment. Yet the success of Hallyu stars both within the reaches of East Asia and overall globally has yet to be truly determined. Jeongmee Kim’s article “Why Does Hallyu Matter? The Significance of the Korean Wave in South Korea” determines that the overall success should be attributed to Korean dramas and how the people from neighboring countries are attracted to the conservative nature of the shows. While Solee I. Shin and Lanu Kim’s article “Organizing K-Pop: Emergence and Market Making of Large Korean Entertainment Houses, 1980-2010” states th...

            Novels written during a period of time depicting the hardships of those eras become voices of those who lived through them. Lydia Chukovskaya’s novella “Sofia Petrovna” is that kind of work. The story’s protagonist and title character lives her life as normally as she can while caring for her only son Kolya. When he’s arrested the heart of the novel is Sofia’s endless attempts to find out why, and how to get him out. As a historical narrative as well as a work of literature the novel is a kin to many novels written during times of great strife.

            The early 20 th century brought about a change in the perception of women both in their public and private lives. Throughout the world women were going from being the homemaker to becoming a working class modern woman. This change also happened in Japan were the term moga was created to describe the modern girl that was starting to appear throughout the country. The novel Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki describes the evolution of the modern girl through the eyes of the story’s main protagonist Joji who finds himself enthralled with the concept of western culture and the modern girl. Through Joji the reader meets Naomi who looks western in appearance but is Japanese born. The novel starts when Joji meets Naomi who is 15 at the time and from there he attempts to make her a well-rounded young woman who is cultured and educated. Joji learns though his experiences with Naomi how truly the frightening the modern Japanes...

            At the beginning of the 18 th century in Japan when the politics of the country were shifting towards a more peaceful time there was one event that would be spoken about throughout the country for years to come. The story of the 47 Ronin who went to avenge their disgraced leader Lord Asano. Lord Asano was asked to entertain Lord Kira who was an imperial emissary visiting from Kyoto. The story of what truly happened during their encounter isn’t clear all that is truly known is that Lord Asano was outraged at Lord Kira and drew his sword and cut Kira who wasn’t able to draw his sword in time to defend himself. Lord Asano was sentenced to commit seppuku for his actions against Lord Kira as well as his crime against the shogunate by attacking someone who worked for the Shogun. Thus prompting the 47 now masterless samurai to avenge Lord Asano and take the life of the person who had caused their master’s land and domai...

            The written word has always been a means of communication whether it’s written in novels, letters, diaries, or even writing a post on Facebook. During the 10 th century C.E. the written language in Japan took on a different form entirely that would still be relevant during the Modern Era. The Heian Period in Japan spanned nearly four centuries would spawn two of the most known books in literature and would show how life inside the Japanese imperial court was like. Two of the most well-known books of the time were written by women who lived within the Japanese court. Wealthy Women during this time in Japanese history were well educated and often worked within the imperial court as ladies in waiting serving the imperial family. One very surprising aspect of this time in Japanese history is that some women were as educated as men, and men weren’t given preference when it came to higher education. The Kana wri...

            What would be considered the greatest battle in the history of the Civil War would also be one that many of the soldiers who survived it would never forget. Even as it’s taught to students in the 21 st century and studied by historians what happened on the battlefield at Gettysburg would change the course of the Civil War. The battle and its aftermath were witnessed by not only the soldiers who fought on the fields of Gettysburg but also by the people of the town as well as the countless civilian nurses and doctors who traveled to the front lines to heal the wounded. Many soldiers and civilians recorded their experiences at Gettysburg as to attest of their existence at the battle and the significance of the experience they gained while on the battlefield. Union Soldier Elisha Hunt Rhodes knew that all the troops would be needed in this upcoming battle saying “The troops that have been stationed here have been ord...

When a family decides to move to another country the parents do so in hopes that their children would be able to attain an education that would lead them to a better life than the one they left behind in their home country. Parents would often put the entire future in the hands of their children once they’ve entered their new home while they worked to keep the family fed and clothed throughout the years. This was an option for many families who entered Britain during the late 1950’s but for many of the children coming along with their parents they would have to face new challenges. Now in a new country where everyone spoke a different language went to the same schools and lived completely different lives from the ones they once had. Some children were too young to remember the difference while others were forced to quickly learn and assimilate to a new world. Their arrival at their new school was met with difficulties and hardships some would work hard to gain their newfound liv...

            Women’s roles during war varies depending on the task at hand, whether it’s combat or as support but during a war such as the American Civil War the role that they would play is very different. Women weren’t allowed to fight for god and country during the Civil War and their roles were restricted to staying at home and caring for their family or if they were lucky enough to secure a job working for the war as a nurse. For three women they took their roles in the war as soldier, nurse and observer and all would document their experiences during the war.

            “Sometimes we see the Civil War in movies and imagine these neatly aligned rows of men with muskets, walking in line to shoot each other. In reality the things that fascinated me were how absolutely ruthless and violent so many engagements were, how much suffering and how men were not prepared.” [1] The American Civil War was one of the greatest known wars in United States history. The fight between the Northern Union States and the Southern Confederate States that would last just over four years and would see countless battles. The Southern States wanted to secede from the Union because they wanted to expand slavery to the western states but the Northern States wanted to abolish slavery. The war was caused because of mounting tensions between the North and the South. Southern states believed that if they had the right to join the Union than they had the right to withdraw and so eleven states seceded from the Unio...

            At the end of the First World War the roles of women had greatly changed as demonstrated by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge’s book “The Long Week-End.” No longer confined to being a homemaker women entered the workforce in Great Britain to help out during the war and once the war was over many hoped to continue working. The current state of affairs for women in the Britain was that of returning to what the country was once like where women would no longer work in industry positions and go on to marry and have children. The war changed this frame of thought for women they now had freedom and independence to pursue other attributes of life that they were once told weren’t allowed for young women. The role of women in the twentieth century would change quickly but not without objections from those around them.